Directed By Sean Durkin

Starring – Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson

The Plot – The true story of the inseparable Von Erich brothers, who made history in the intensely competitive world of professional wrestling in the early 1980s. Through tragedy and triumph, under the shadow of their domineering father and coach, the brothers seek larger-than-life immortality on the biggest stage in sports.

This film is currently not rated

The Iron Claw | Official Trailer HD | A24 (youtube.com)

POSITIVES

Hardcore wrestling enthusiasts like myself know the Von Erich family to be cursed from their overwhelming abundance of tragedy that unfairly halted their prominence, but Sean Durkin sees them as an all-American family whose sins of the father served as the proverbial fuel to the fire that engulfed them whole, as a result of several disastrous decisions between them. Durkin doesn’t shy away from the tragic aspects that ultimately and unfortunately defined them, responsibly imbedding them into the creative fibers of the film, but in tastefully tender ways of depiction and articulation that never exploits the monumental impacts that stemmed from them, instead capturing a surprisingly poetic essence to the brotherhood and the afterlife that stitches many of each’s aspects together towards one of the most beautiful endings that I have seen to a film, this year. In addition to this, Durkin also loses himself to the spectacle of the sport, with vintage presentational aspects of quality that not only effortlessly articulate the 80’s with authentically garnered production values, but also within the pageantry of the wrestling broadcasts themselves, which turned into a cultural phenomenon during this timeframe. For in-ring action, longtime Durkin collaborator and cinematographer Matyas Erdely combines angles far and near to stitch together the physicality of the sport, with intensely bold sound designs to echo their carnage, as well as swoopingly colorful graphics that immerse us into the essence of 80’s TV families gathered to watch their squared circle gladiators. While the script remains by Efron’s David the most, it’s never the less a thorough examination of the brothers many varied relationships with their fame-obsessed father, planting several seeds of urgency early on in the narrative, before they grow into something monumental, as a result of the ignorance for how each of them were irresponsibly addressed. While the blame can easily be put on father Fritz for his grueling lifestyle given to his boys, the children themselves aren’t articulated without blame, garnering an atmospheric toxicity to their daily routines, all in a desire to please the man who could never truly be proud of any of them. Because of such, it’s an emotionally draining experience, as responsibly expected by anyone who knows the story, but one that I feel captured as much of the power struggle between this family as 125 minutes and twelve years of storytelling could properly muster, with these characters far exceedingly transcending the fictionalized versions of their over-the-top in-ring characters, and instead illustrated as living, breathing humans who constantly crumble at the elements of regret. The characters are truly brought to life with heavy-hitting performances from the entirety of the big name cast, but also most of the secondary extras in popular ring characters, which prove that Durkin and casting directors took their time in correctly rendering. Zac Efron gives his most physically committed and emotionally grueling turn of his career, which is then matched effortlessly by Holt McCallany’s audaciousness as the family household. When these two tussle over the future of the business, it leads to fireworks under one tensely claustrophobic household, with Maura Tierney’s scintillating stoicism serving as the manifestation that has been through so many of these debilitating debates.

NEGATIVES

As to where the first two acts of this film felt as close to perfection as anything that I’ve experienced during Oscars season, this year, the third act is a bit of a sloppily scatterbrained mess of focus, which underscores some pretty influential beats of Von Erich aftershock. Subplots and developments emerge directly out of nowhere, creating a frantic sense of reality that directly throws off the pacing and clarity of the passing years, and considering the film ends with an element of positivity on the perception of one character in particular, it oversteps many of the methods in getting there that script needed to turn its emotional elasticity, in turn rushing through the resolutions in ways the previous acts didn’t flounder. As for other uninspiring script choices, the framing of the sport beyond kayfabe didn’t always make sense, sometimes even within the executions of the same scene. For instance, the film makes clear that pro wrestling in pre-determined, yet after matches the Von Erichs lose, Fritz is angry with them for quitting. So there’s times when it feels like the script is at eye level with half of the pro wrestling demographic, while also feeding to the other half that still believes it to be entirely legit. This obviously creates a confusing disjointment to its creativity that I wish was easier smoothed out, especially when conflicts use it as a crutch to summon these things that wouldn’t exist in a world where everyone is in on the same joke. Lastly, while I previously gave credit to all of the performances from the main cast and most of the performances from the supporting extras, one character stood out like a sore thumb in the worst ways, and that’s Aaron Dean Eisenberg’s portrayal of Ric Flair, which feels like a cartoon in a film with so much meticulous measure in characterization. While Flair is considered an eccentric madman in an age where wrestling characters were growing stale, Eisenberg’s problem is commanding the charisma with commitment to wording that I never bought for a single solitary second, with these distracting tirades that feel like someone’s impression of Ric Flair, instead of actually suspending belief that you’re watching the person you’re intended to be watching.

OVERALL
“The Iron Claw” grippingly wrestles its audience into submission with a hauntingly grim aftershock for fame that levels one family and their American dream to its very core. Despite some clumsy execution in momentary focus with the script, the film tags to its confidently committed ensemble to carry the weight, and when combined with Durkin’s passion and respect for the world-building and iconic family at the center of it, balancing hard-hitting action inside of the squared circle with familial fates outside of it, rounding out a new contender to legitimately great wrestling films, which there aren’t many of.

My Grade: 8/10 or B+